How Apple Uses Rule 44(d) to Hide Trademark Applications

Quartz has a very interesting piece [Via9to5Mac] on how Apple and other tech companies use a U.S. Patent & Trademark Office rule to register trademarks in semi-secrecy. The rule is designated 44(d), and the crux of the matter is that allows multinationals to more or less hide a trademark for 6 months. That rule gives a trademark filer 6 month-retroactive priority on a new trademark application to filers who can prove they already filed it somewhere else. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Intel have all used this method to keep a trademark under wraps, but Apple is king of this method. Quartz cited legal experts who said only companies with enormous legal resources can afford to do it. Check out the full article for more.